Garrison Forest?s players were pleased with their 2-1 victory over Bryn Mawr in a game between the top teams in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference, but it didn?t alleviate their pain of how last season ended.
Garrison Forest (13-2-1, 11-2-1 A Conference) secured the top seed in next week’s eight-team conference tournament, but will also enter the postseason coming off a win over the team which upset it in last year’s championship game.
It’s that loss last season to Bryn Mawr (14-3-2, 10-3-1), which played the Grizzlies to a 0-0 tie on Sept. 26, that keeps Garrison Forest from being overly confident this year.
“This season in particular it’s anybody’s game and we just have to take it game by game,” Garrison Forest coach Traci Davis said. “All eight teams have strong players and are able to upset some of the top seeds.”
While the results are similar, Garrison Forest won another regular season title this year with a much more defensive-minded team after losing eight seniors. This team is much younger, as 12 of the 16 players are underclassmen.
But against Bryn Mawr, senior Megan Hauver produced the game?s biggest play when she took a pass from junior midfielder Christine Knauss and scored the eventual game-winner with 26:18 remaining in the second half.
Junior midfielder Alex Goldstein scored the Grizzlies? other goal as she tied the score at 1-1 with 43 second left in the first half. The Grizzlies? defense and goalie Emily Cain, who had four saves, took care of the rest.
“This is a game we were pumped for a really wanted to win,” Hauver said. “After tying them earlier and losing to them last year, this was a game on our schedule that was very important to us.”
Garrison Forest will likely host Notre Dame Prep in a first-round game on Tuesday. The Blazers were 4-12-1 overall and 3-9-1 in A Conference play. However, the Grizzlies had their troubles with them in both games, winning 1-0 on Sept. 18 and 2-1 on Oct. 11.
“We’re a very young team, but we’ve grown closer as the season has gone on,” Goldstein said. “We know what type of focus is needed to get the job done.”
